Kiwis Triumph in Online Oscars

Wellington, 10 May 2006 - New Zealand web design
company Shift has triumphed again at the 10th Annual Webby
Awards, the Internet equivalent of Hollywood’s Oscars. They
take home the Webby for Best Tourism Website for their work
on Tourism New Zealand’s www.newzealand.com/travel. Shift
also won the award last year, and it’s the third time they
have been nominated. www.newzealand.com bested nominations
from Montreal, Italy and Australia to take the prize.

Catherine Bates, Tourism New Zealand’s Consumer Marketing
Manager, is elated by the news. Shift and Tourism New
Zealand have worked in close partnership for over 7 years,
evolving the site’s design and introducing hi-tech new
features, including the recently released Travel
Planner.

“It’s a huge win for New Zealand,” said Selwyn
Feary, Wellington-based Director of Shift. “We’re up
against the biggest & best design firms in the world. For a
company from New Zealand to take home a Webby is a great
achievement. To win the award twice in a row is a testament
to the durability and lasting quality of Tourism New
Zealand’s site. It’s our Two Towers. We’re working hard
towards a Return of the King.”

The Webby Awards have been
dubbed the “Online Oscars” by the New York Times and Time
magazine. The award ceremony will be held on June 12th in
New York City, at a ceremony attended by 600 winners,
industry leaders and celebrities. It is presented by the
International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, whose
members include David Bowie, The Simpson’s Matt Groening and
Virgin CEO Richard Branson. The keynote speaker at last
year’s ceremony was former US Vice President Al
Gore.

Shift Wellington’s Creative Director Brian Smith
attended the awards in 2005, and was impressed by the high
quality of the other winners. “It was a fantastic night and
great exposure for our firm. Since last year’s win, we’ve
been invited to pitch for work all over the
world.”

Auckland Director Che Tamahori is also excited
about the win: “The Webbys are fantastic because they are
about more than just good design. They’re also about the
practical qualities of the site. A Webby means that
www.newzealand.com doesn’t just look great: it’s a site that
people find helpful and useful. That’s really important to
us, and something we spend a lot of time and effort working
on.”

www.newzealand.com/travel is Tourism New Zealand’s
flagship website, an online portal aimed at overseas
tourists and travellers, allowing them to explore the
different regions of New Zealand and to plan their holiday.
It includes features on areas of interest to overseas
tourists, including the Chronicles of Narnia, River Queen,
the Chelsea Garden Show and the Lions Tour.

Another Shift
site, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Te Ara, the
Encyclopaedia of New Zealand (www.teara.govt.nz), was
recognised as an Official Honouree at the Webby Awards, an
award reserved for the top 20% of entered websites.

ABOUT SHIFT – Shift is a New
Zealand web-design company with studios in Auckland and
Wellington. They have created websites for Tourism New
Zealand, Victoria University, Inland Revenue, Bell Gully,
Sky City, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage and others.
They specialise in creating beautifully designed, usable and
useful websites for small boutique clients through to large
corporate enterprises.

Shift is part of Positively
Wellington Business' (Wellington's regional business
development organisation) ITC cluster programme, for
Wellington-based ITC companies. "We've been working with
Shift for a long time now, helping create opportunities
locally and overseas," says Positively Wellington Business
acting Chief Executive Chris Lipscombe. "It's great that
such a world-class company has been recognised two years in
a row, I'm sure they're the envy of their global
peers."

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